Romeo & Juliet's Gin Fix
by Hobbity
Summary: In which Juliet is a boy and Romeo is black. Slash warning.
1. Purple Storm

My version of Romeo & Juliet, in which Juliet is a boy and Romeo is black. There are a lot of cocktail names thrown in for fun, see if you can spot them all. Yes, this is slash. It's also narrative poetry. I expect but will ignore flames.

Give it a try. 

* * *

It was one of those Purple Storm summers

Whole city on fire with lavender

The sand on the beach was hot as coals

Tempers ran like birds fly,

They ran so damn high.

The sun'd set in a scarlet blaze

Running blood down the streets

The air was hot with electricity

Under that scorching sun

We loaded our guns.

The city was a chessboard

Us, idle pawns, we crossed no-mans land

Seeking out trouble and brawls,

We brayed in the heat

Stamping our feet.

Hostility mounted from July onwards

We'd go on jags under the Midnight Sun

Looking to vent our hot blood

Over there, a guy spat at me

His lips twisted: _black fizzie._

Like dogs, we howled right back at him,

_White spider, coconut ice _

That was how It was, that summer when

Enmity crawled like flies

We quarrelled and we died.

I could have survived, kept my hands clean

But I was powerless- fate intervened.


	2. Jack Rose

We stood out like sore thumbs

At the party we weren't invited to.

We were the inconspicuous sorts of gatecrashers

Just a dance, a drink or two.

(Or three, or five, or eight-

My father's lesson to me:

Don't let good drink go to waste.)

My cousin, myself, my friend Felix Longwater-

And all of us were high as kites

The Full Moon was burning at eleven fifteen

First laid eyes on my fate that night.

He was standing by the bar

Met his eyes and thought:

_Didn't know they made blue stars.  
_

Snakebite, stingerwhale, Tennessee Rush-

I lost sight of the room, the sound-

Met the eyes of the boy by the bar

was all I could do to stay on the ground.

At home I had a scarlet hen-

Thought she was a beauty

But I'd never known beauty

Before then.

His skin was white as paper

Those cheeks put the rosé in the rose

I tell you, he was a Virgin Killer, beautiful,

From his head to his toes.

His suit was sharp, shoes new

Met his eyes and his gaze

It was lucid, True Blue.

I was a zombie, staggered towards him

I didn't have to apply for his name,

He drawled _Jack Rose_, and ordered a drink

I was stunned. I ordered the same.

Party drink, Purple mist

_Bet you can't swig this'un_ he said

Swallowed Scorpion Piss.

I found nerves from somewhere,

And stole an Angel's kiss.

Alabama Slammer.

The world stopped.

Felix Longwater grabbed me by the neck

_Gotta get going boy, games up, time flies_

Jack Rose watched our juvenile flight

That boy had New Orleans ice in his eyes.

Balcony-bound, he watched me leave

I tasted cherry, apple slice.

I'd become a shameless kiss-thief.

Paradise punch, pink passion.

Jack Rose was poison.


	3. Bunny Hug

Summer in a glass

Wine sparkles on his lips

Every night he breaks into the manor.

Dark intruder.

Sprung from my only hate

We despise each other

His kisses too hard, sharp teeth

His embraces smother.

He bites.

_Jack Rose_, he sneers,

_Little Prince. Hot Nazi. Ice Water. _

_Jumping Jack Flash._

He won't be pacified, and I don't care.

_You're peachy keen_,

He laughs, his eyes shine hot chocolate.

His hand in mine,

Dark as hell.

So I give him

A Bee's Kiss, on the lips, sting him.

_Black Fizzie,_ I scorn-

_Cock sucking cowboy, Dirty south,_

_Slangin' nigger with a golden tooth._

Every night he breaks into the manor.

I'm covered in bruises not three weeks later.

At the creak of dawn,

He'll take his flight, raven winged-

But before that, he'll doze beside me.

Dipping his feet in dreams,

He'll give me new names.

_White Lily. Moon Glow. Bunny hug._

I turn to him eventually,

Press my palm against his heart.

_What's your real name, anyway?_ He kisses me.

_You taste like almonds_, I whisper.

He stares me out and says

_I am Sam._


	4. Bronx Sour

Jack Rose had a brother who was known as Bronx Sour,

Outside Jack's apartments, would stand listening for hours

He wasn't a fool and he knew all too well,

That things were occurring which Jack wouldn't tell.

Bronx Sour was sneaky, he did what he could,

And knew when his brother was up to no good,

That summer, by moonshine, he waited all night

To find out the secret of Jack Rose's delight.

The source of the bruises, the caller of names,

The giver of gladness, the player of games-

Bronx waited till morning was turning to rose,

And then a small noise interrupted his doze-

Hid in a corner, Bronx- set and prepared

For some rebellious maiden with a defiant glare

To come sneaking from Jack's rooms, a blush in her face

Her tongue still tingling from Jack Rose's taste-

But no such intruder there was on the peace,

No blushing young girl with her clothing all creased

But a boy, tall and dark-skinned with eyes like the night

With handsome, strong shoulders and features alight,

And he _was_ flushed from thrill, and those lips _had _been kissed,

And Bronx Sour's assumption had aimed and had missed

The boy stole away, disappeared into dawn,

Quiet and graceful as a spring-legged fawn,

Jack Rose's dear lover, his secret, his prize,

His lust-stricken Romeo with hot chocolate for eyes-

None other but that creature, that black fizzie swine

That promiscuous lad, that gun-wielding grime-

Bronx watched his departure, felt his blood boil

Saw the name of Jack Rose and his family soiled-

And then with amounting and terrible zeal-

Bronx Sour followed, hot on Sam's heels.


	5. Red Eyed Shooter

There was a bourbon pressure

Over the city

That morning.

There was a smell of rust

Like blood,

Like a dead horse warning.

There was a cinnamon sky

It was Rockwell Iced Tea

The summer air prickled

With Affinity.

There was a creeping fear

In Sam's skull

That day.

It was the quiet nagging

Of a dread

That would not go away.

And the boy did realise-

But he realised too late

You don't expect to be followed

By the Devil's Advocate.

Sam Brandy lead Bronx Sour

Right across the town

That July.

And stopped at the beach-

He turned-

Shooter with a Red Eye.

And for a moment, there standing,

The world held it's breath

The sky looked like mulled wine

But tasted like death.

_You've gone over your lines,_

Sam's growling

With nightmares for eyes.

_You, gibbering hypocrite,_

_Crossed yours long ago_,

-Bronx's reply.

There's a second of unspoken

Malice and scorn

And then, mirror-perfect

The guns are all drawn...

It was only by some chance

That in that minute,

That day-

Sam's friend Felix

-You remember him-

was passing that way.

And his ears, like a tiger's

Pricked up at the sense

Of blood thirst and malice

And violent intent.

_Ho, friends, put your swords down_

Felix cries out,

Brave as a lion.

But Bronx won't withdraw,

Too willing to prove

That he's got balls of iron.

Another two-second pause

As the sun rolls her great eye

And then there's a gunshot,

And then there's a cry-

A scuffle, a brawl,

Confusion and blood

And the coming storm's smothering

The neighbourhood-

At last, one final and terrible shout-

Sam opens his eyes-still alive-

But the last shot's rung out-

Bronx Sour's still moving

He's up on his feet-

He's a bloody Maria

With a drumming heartbeat-

White as a sheet-

And on the sand, Felix-

A vulture's treat.

And Sam Brandy falls on his knees

By his friend

In the sand.

Orange Passion's martyr

With a lolling head

And rag doll hands.

Just a diplomat, peaceful,

With the hot blood of youth

Dead by traitor's hands

Rough and uncouth.

_Worm's meat_, Bronx sneers

And he turns

And he runs-

His thirst for death satisfied

content with

The feast of his guns.

But he hasn't got too far-

Triumph hot in his veins

Before Sam screams for vengeance

And the chase

begins

again.


	6. Witches Brew

Death on a leash

It's easy, this time-

Sam vows that the punishment

Will fit with the crime.

He chases Bronx down,

His voice Witches' Brew-

_I can't go behind him-_

_It'll have to be you._

And like that, silver bullet

In Bronx's hot head-

Like that, the white rum thug

Is crumpled and dead.

Over the rooftops

The heavy clouds loom

And whisper the legend

Of Bronx Sour's doom.

Two boys, that July

Heed Azrael's call-

And the storm clouds forecast

That those two won't be all…


	7. Mint Slice

Twelve after Six

I'm into his room

My hands wet and bloody

Predict pussycat doom.

I'm a Black Magic prowler

A Purple Flirt crook

And now I'm a murderer-

I kill by the book.

I came in through the window

And the glass cut my feet

And I intrude further

Go between the sheets.

Jack Rose is awakened

And with Blue Lagoon eyes

Sees the blood on my shirt

Sees the storm in the sky.

_Sam Brandy, you're trouble_

Says his slow, secret smile

I shake my head- _listen, boy_

_Be quiet for a while._

_There's some grave clouds above us_

_That storm's coming near_

_I got something to tell you_

_I think you should hear._

_Your brother, he stalked me_

_Breathed smoke down my neck-_

_And his bullets flew haywire,_

_Made my friend a red wreck-_

_And, kid, I'm not sorry_

_You can call my heart black_

'_Cause I chased your Bronx Sour_

_and I shot him right back._

_And I'm leaving, tonight, Jack_

_Can't stay in this town_

_Blue Birds'll be on my tail_

_And they'll hunt to high ground-_

_So I've got to get going,_

_Boy, I've got to get gone-_

_Gotta be liquid phantom_

_By the grey break of dawn._

Jack's eyes went from shocked,

To anguished-green grand

His face filled with dejection

And he clung to my hand-

Kissed my ear, kissed my shoulder

In his mouth, caught my breath

Said _I love you past brothers_

_Through blood and through death._

_And you'll stay, for one last night_

_With the world still unknowing-_

_And then, I'll go with you,_

_Wherever you're going._

I'm taken back, stunned

I'm appalled and amazed

By un-lilylike courage,

By the ice in his veins.

_You're playing_, I tell him

_With a lead weighted dice_

He whispers, _I don't care- _

_My love's a Mint Slice._

_So make me lucky. Roll it twice._


	8. Angel Wing

We left at the first glimpse of morning

The punch-drunk sky was a shepherd's warning

The wind as cold as the hand he was holding

We drove west on Angel's wings.

We stopped at a bar and drank ourselves bloody

_I'd rather have a bottle in front of me_

_Than a frontal lobotomy-_

Here's to anarchy.

The road was a strip of Mexican dreams,

Our eyes reflected the mirror's gleam-

Jack beside me, laughing and singing,

_Things are always further away than they seem._

We drank like we'd drunk on the first night I saw him,

Quiet Storm, Fresca, Lime Juice with Gin

Unashamed of our love and our crime and our sins-

We toasted the fools and the heroes we'd been.

_Here's to your father, the white king in chess,_

_And a kiss in the dark, and the Orient express-_

_Your dark mother in her dark wedding dress,_

_And your brother and his anger's bloody request._

We were younger than angels on that long murky road

Our belt-holsters heavy with the guns that we'd loaded

When the wheel slipped and the tires screeched and our hearts soared and glowed-

We knew. I know.

Into the desert, off-road and too fast,

Hammered and lovesick, immoral outcasts,

Jack Rose at my side as the dust flew past,

We cried _Cheers to Azrael, make this drink our last!_

And the car tires spun round and the wheel slipped from my hold

And, as if in slow motion, the car flipped and it rolled-

Jack's screams beside me, my own, Liquid Gold-

His beautiful fear a sight to behold-

I could see, in his eyes, all sharp, and brass bold,

Our love which was true, doomed, early and old

And so terribly worth the souls that we'd sold,

The risks that we'd braved, the lies that we'd told-

The blood that was shed and the customs unrolled.

With words on our lips fallen silent and cold-

_You were my Sweet Tooth, _

_I did this for you, _

_My love wasn't proper, _

_but it was properly true _

_And it'll go on forever, _

_though my heart's been run through_

_I will love you forever, as Romeos do._


	9. Black Romeo

There was a Blood-and-sand storm

Over the city, that summer

And it stirred a deep mutiny

Awake from it's slumber.

It moved in the minds

and the hearts of the boys

Who we've followed this far,

And who now are destroyed,

Even though they were daring

And hot-blooded and bold

In the end left them lifeless,

And static, and cold.

All over the city,

They rang out the bells,

And the boys' tragic story

Was told in each knell.

_These princes were taken_

_To Azrael's halls_

_Thanks to our hatred_

_Our enmity and brawls_

_With the white prince demolished_

_And the black martyr dead,_

_Let the two houses know,_

_Both are punished._

So here's to the lovers

Their joy and their woes

Here's to Sam Brandy,

And his bright-eyed Jack Rose.

(Yes, here's to our Jack,

and his black Romeo).


End file.
